Author: Syrie James and Ryan M. James
Published: January 24th 2012 by HarperTeen
 

Boy meets girl. Girl noticed something unusual with the guy. Guy tries to keep his secret identity, well, secret. But the girl still found out. Guy has no choice but to tell the truth. Now they both know who—what they are so they tried making their relationship work. But alas, it cannot be for it is ‘forbidden.’ So guy let her go. Girl weeps but tried to move on. But guy returned to save the girl. They both saved the day and promised to be by their side from now on.

The end?

So maybe it was so predictable. Too predictable. But it doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Actually it was good. Better than I expected. But I have this annoying feeling that the sequence of the plot is something pulled out from other YA books of the same genre. Nope, not accusing here. It was just too banal for my taste. But even if it was, I was completely surprised that I enjoyed this book. I loved the guy—Alec aside from the sexy accent (what?! it was). He’s probably your typical male lead but I don’t mind. I was enjoying his side of the story. Claire too, passed my standards. I find her sometimes whiny, inconvincible naïve and madly in love (which irks me the most; I know, I know, I love (pun intended) love story but too much is actually suffocating. I need the right amount of these scenes. Too much makes me gag). Claire, was bearable, sometimes I liked her moments with Alec, sometimes is just too, I dunno know, strong, heavy for her age. But they are ok for a couple. What I like the most when they fought Vincent. My major moment number 1. ‘Coz fighting scenes are awesome.

Despite the predictability factor (I figured it out all those twist and turns, even who Helena was. Maybe I’m psychic too? LOL Maybe not. :P) what I enjoyed the most was angel lore included in this book. It wasn’t exactly unique or new. But it was well thought out. I loved the angels here called Grigori and they have different kinds. I know wings make angels, well, angels. But I liked the fact they haven’t had those. In other angel books, I’m always asking why their clothes remained intact whenever they spread their wings. I know in Torment, Daniel wears clothes with slit at the back. I don’t know for others. I know, I shouldn’t need to know, it is irrelevant.:P As I was saying, the angel here possess different powers, like telekinesis, super strength, illusion to name a few. And this is what stood out for me. When Alec brought out his sword, like Brian (Claire’s friend) I thought it was wickedly cool. This made it special for me and not just another paranormal romance book. I enjoyed the fight scenes. It brought out the shounen fangirl in me. 😉

If there’s a sequel I’ll gladly read it. So I hope there is. 🙂